Field gun-carriage.



PATEN'TED JULY 7, 1903. KEAM,

A. '1. DAWSON & G. T. BUG

FIELD GUN CARRIAGE. APPLICATION TIL ED SEPT. 5, 1902,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

No. 783,166. I A PATENTED JULY 7, 1908. A. T. DAWSON & G. T. BUGKHAM.FIELD GUN CARRIAGE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5, 1902.

NO MODEL.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2 Jiwaz%h A A a '12:

No. 733,166. PATENTED JULY 7, 41903. A. T. DAWSON & G. T. BUUKHAM. FIELDGUN CARRIAGE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5, 1902.

NO MODEL. 3 S EBTS-SHBET 3.

UhiiTED STATES atented July '7, 1903.

Erica...

ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON AND GEORGE THOMAS BUOKHAM, OF WEST- MINSTER,ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS TO VICKERS SONS dc MAXIM, LIMITED,

OF \VESTMITZZ DTER, ENGLAND.

FlELD GUN-CARRIAGE.

SPECIFILCATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 733,166, dated July'7, 1903.

Application filed SJptembeI 5, 1902.

To aZZ whom, Ilium/my concern:

Be it known that we, ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON,lieutenant of the RoyalNavyand director and superintendent of ordnance-works, and GEORGE 'lnona'sBucunnn, engineer, subjects of the King of Great Britain, both residingat Victoria street, \Vestminster, in the county of London, England, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in and Relating to FieldGun-Carriages, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to field carriages or mountings chiefly designedfor howitzers.

The said invention has reference to the elevating-gear, which isconstructed to enable the howitzer to be readily and quickly movedthrough large angles of elevation for permitting it to be broughtrapidly to loading position when firing at extreme angles of elevation.

We will now describe our invention with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 'is a side elevation, Fig. 2 a plan, and Fi3 a rear end view, of a howitzer and its carriage constructed inaccordance with our invention, one of the carriage-\'-'l1ee1s beingremoved in Fig. 1. is a front eletion, and Fig. 5 a vertical sectiontaken ap proximately on the line 1 1 of Fig. 4, showing a portion of theelevating-gear on an enlarged scale. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of thecarriage, showing a modified form oft-he elevate ing-gear and alsoshowing the spade carried by the forward part of the trail.

In all the figures like letters of refei'ence indicate similar parts. Ais the howitzer.

it recoils.

O is the trail.

The elevating-gear comprises an elevatin arm (l, Figs. i and 5, pivotedto a bolt :1, screwed into the left-hand trunnion (1 of the cradle 13,the said trunnion being prolonged through the bearing for this purpose.The said elevating-arm is attached by a pivot-pin i3 is the cradle inwhich d and a connecting-rod d to the elevatingscrew hand-wheel 1).

pattern provided All the gear of the ordinary with the actuating SerialNo. 122,217. \No model.)

outer screw-clamp (l is provided, by meansof which the said arm may befixed at any angle of elevation upon a slotted quadrant or clamping-arcd", secured end b of the said tagonal or other suitable form to receivea bell-crank lever, one arm, B", of which forms a longrearwardly-extending handle, while the other arm, 1%, carries aspring-b0lt U, by

to the trailside. The outer means of which the gun is locked to the ele-6o vetting-arm (land through said arm to the elevating-gear worked bythe hand-wheel I). An incline is out on a projection d of theelevating-arm (7,, by means of which the bolt 1) is automatically itzeris returned angularly to its firing posi tion, so that the said bolt canunder the action of its spring reengage with the elevatingarm and lockthe howitzer at the proper angle of elevation. A stop (1 on theelevating-arm (L in a position to rehave the bolt 1) from the lateralstressit' would otherwise experience as the howitzer is brought suddenlyto rest in its firing position by actuating long handle ii The howitzeris elevated by the hand-wheel'l) in the usual manner, and theelevating-gear is clamped in position by turning the screw-clamp d. Thento bring the gun quickly to the loading piece in the form of a smalllever (I? on the elevating-arm (Z is pressed inward, thereby bringing anose (1" thereof against the springbolt U and by forcing the latterinwardly unlocking the howitzer, so that it can brought to the loadingposition by the haudie 13 independently of the elevatingnrin Afterloading the said howitzer can quickly be returned to iiring position,where it is antomatically locked again to the elevating-arm c (I by thospring-bolt b" reengaging with the olcvating-arnn It will thus be seenthat after the elevating-gear is once set for any desired angle ofelevation it is unnecessary to again operate it unless the angle ofelevation 9 is to be varied. We thus insure increased rapidity iniirin".

In some instances, as in the example illusor free end of theelevatingarin d a so trunnion extension is of oopushed in as the how- 05is also provided '70 returning to i 1 the aforesaid position apushbequickly trated by Fig. 6, we make the clamping-arc d in one piece withthe elevating-arm d and fix the screw-clamp cl? to the side oftheir-ail.

What we claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the UnitedStates, is-

1. In a field gun-carriage, the combination with the gun audits cradle,of an elevatingarm pivotally connected with one of the cradle-trunnions,gear for operating said arm, an aetuating handle fixed to saidtrunnions, and means for readily locking and unlocking saidactuating-handle to and from said elevating-arm, substantially as andfor the purpose specified.

2. In a field gun-oarriage, the combination with the gun and its cradle,of an elevatingarm pivotally connected With one of the eradle-trunnions,gear for actuating said arm, a bell-crank lever fixed to said trunnionsand provided with a rearwardly-extending handle, and means for readilylocking and unlocking said bell-crank lever to and from saidelevating-arm substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a field gun-carriage, the combination with the gun and its cradle,of an elevatingarm pivotally connected with one of the cradle-trunnions,gear for actuating said arm, means for locking" said arm'in its angnlarly-adjusted position, a bell-crank lever fixed to the said trunnionand rovided with a rearWardly-extending handle, and means for readilylocking and unlocking said bellerank lever to and from saidsubstantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. In a field gun-carriage, the combination withthe gun and its cradle,of an elevatingtrm pivotally connected with one of the radle-trunnions,gear for actuating said arm, tclamp on said arm, a fixed slotted segmentn which said clamp Works and to which said Mn is adapted to be fixed bythe clamp, a iell-crank lever fixed to the aforesaid trunllOD andprovided with a rearwardlyextendng handle, andmeans for readily lockingnd unldcking said hell-crank lever to and rom said'elevati ng-arm,substantially as and or the purpose specified.

5. In a field gun-carriage,

'ith the gun and its cradle,

the combination of an elevatingelevating-arm arm pivotally connectedwith one of the cradle-trunnions, gear for actuating said arm, means forlocking said arm in its angularlyadjusted position, a bell-crank leverfixed .to the said trunnions and provided with a rearwardly-extendinghandle, a spring-bolt for looking said. bell-crank lever to saidelevating-arm and means for liberating said springbolt when thebell-crank lever is to be operated independentlyof the elevating-armsubstantially as and for the purpose specified.

6. In a field gun-carriage, the combination with the gun and its cradle,of an elevatingarm pivotally connected With one of the eradle-trunnions,gear for actuatingsaid arm, means for locking said arm in itsangularlyadjusted position, a bell-crank lever fixed to the saidtrunnion and provided with a rear- Wardly-extending handle,a spring-bolton the bell-crank lever for locking the latter to said elevating-arm,and a puslrpiece on the elevating-arm for disengaging the spring-boltfrom the elevating-arm substantially as and for the purpose specified.

7. In a field gun-carriage, the combination with the gun and its cradle,of an elevatingarm pivotally connected with one of the eradle-trunnions,gear for actuating said arm, means for locking said arm in itsangular-lyadjusted position, a bell-crank lever fixed to the saidtrunnion and provided with a rearwvardly-extending handle,a spring-bolton the bell-crank lever for locking the latter to said elevating-arm, apush-piece on the elevatingarm for disengaging the spring-bolt, anincline on the elevating-arm for actuating said spring-bolt as theelevating-arm returns to its position of reengagement with thespringbolt, and a stop on the elevating-arm to relieve the springboltfrom lateral stress as the parts are returned to firing positionsubstantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof our hands,in presence of two subscribing witnesses,this 26th day of August, 1902.

ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON. GEORGE THOMAS BUCKHAM. Witnesses: 3 i

C. A, SEARLE, HENRY Kind.

